This invention relates to rotary drum vacuum filters and in particular to improved cake discharge deflector blades therefor.
Deflector blades guide filter cake released from the drum surface to a hopper or conveyor outside the drum. On large filters, it is usual to provide a segmented blade, each segment acting independently so that localized variations on the drum surface will be easily accommodated. Also, replacement of damaged sections can be readily accomplished without disturbing other segments.
Although segmented blades have proven very useful, they nevertheless are costly due to the fact that in accordance with prior designs each blade segment requires its own tensioning and spacing mechanism. Also, they are easily fouled with filter cake, frequently to a degree that interferes with cake discharge and requires manual correction.